Kambili Flashcards
Kambili’s personality
quite, shy, obedient, scared, intimidated, insecure
quotes of how she can’t speak up
-‘I opened my mouth but the words would not come out’
- ‘stuttering’ - repetition of the word stuttering after many of her sentences connotes how she often has difficulty to speak
-‘you lower you voice when you speak, you talk in whispers’
quote of how she dosen’t react to the violence: physical struggle
‘I tried to concentrate, tried to get the food down’- the verb ‘tried’ demonstrates how her fear and anxiety is so strong she has to make an effort in day to day things, like swallowing
quotes that shows how she does what papa expects her to do
-thanks to be god’ what papa expected us to say
-‘I felt suffocated’. the off-white walls (..) were narrowing, bearing down on me’. the word choice ‘suffered and the walls ‘narrowing’ ‘bearing’ are very powerful words describing what she is feeling, suggesting the way she feels trapped
quotes to show her thoughts during violent scenes
’ I sat down, closed my eyes, and started to count. counting made it seem not that long, made it seem not that bad’- coping mechanism-shows us that this is not the first time
-‘mama was slung over his shoulders like the jute sacks of rice his factory workers bought’ - the way she describes mama as a ‘jute sack’ creates a powerful yet disturbing image of mama as an object, something that a papa controls
quotes to show her thoughts about papa
’ I could not even think about her and papa together, on the bed they shared (…) when I thought of affection between them, I thought of them exchanging the sign of peace at mass
key themes explored through Kambili
-extreme catholicism
-papa’s god-complex
-communication
-domestic violence
.pressure
